Rolled product dispenser and holder for use therewith

ABSTRACT

A holder appliance suitable for axially supporting a rolled product is disclosed having a holder and a rigid or semi-rigid root section. The holder includes a body having first and second ends and an engagement surface disposed therebetween contactable with a planar end surface of the rolled product, and a protrusion extending from the engagement surface toward the rolled product, the protrusion being engageable within an opening in the planar end surface. The root section is disposed at the first end and a tab disposed at the second end of the body. The tab extends radially away from the axis of the rolled product and axially away from the engagement surface. The tab has a greatest radial portion displaced from a plane defined by the engagement surface in a direction opposite to a direction in which the protrusion is extended. The tab has a contour that mirrors a user&#39;s thumb.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/024,242, filed Jan. 29, 2008, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Sheet products are typically supplied on rolls that are loaded into sheet product dispensers for the purpose of dispensing sheets. The term “sheet products” as used herein is inclusive of natural and/or synthetic cloth or paper sheets. Sheet products may include both woven and non-woven articles. There are a wide variety of nonwoven processes and they can be either wetlaid or drylaid. Some examples include hydroentangled (sometimes called spunlace), DRC (double re-creped), airlaid, spunbond, carded, paper towel, and meltblown sheet products. Further, sheet products may contain fibrous cellulosic materials that may be derived from natural sources, such as wood pulp fibers, as well as other fibrous material characterized by having hydroxyl groups attached to the polymer backbone. These include glass fibers and synthetic fibers modified with hydroxyl groups. Examples of sheet products include, but are not limited to, wipers, napkins, tissues, rolls, towels or other fibrous, film, polymer, or filamentary products.

In general, sheet products are thin in comparison to their length and breadth and exhibit a relatively flat planar configuration and are flexible to permit folding, rolling, stacking, and the like. The sheet product may have perforations extending in lines across its width to separate individual sheets and facilitate separation or tearing of individual sheets from the roll at discrete intervals. Individual sheets may be sized as desired to accommodate the many uses of the sheet products. For example, perforation lines may be formed every 13 inches to define a universally sized sheet. Multiple perforation lines may be provided to allow the user to select the size of sheet depending on the particular need.

Unloading an empty roll and loading a full roll into a sheet dispenser can be cumbersome depending upon the dispenser mechanism for holding the roll. As such, there is a need in the industry for improved mechanisms to simplify roll loading and unloading.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the invention includes a holder appliance suitable for axially supporting a rolled product, the rolled product having a planar end surface defined by a plurality of juxtaposed edges of the rolled product and an opening centrally disposed in the planar end surface, the rolled product defining an axial direction and a radial direction, the holder appliance including a holder and a rigid or semi-rigid root section. The holder includes a body having first and second ends and an engagement surface disposed therebetween contactable with the planar end surface of the rolled product, and a protrusion extending from the engagement surface of the body toward the rolled product, the protrusion being engageable within the opening in the planar end surface. The rigid or semi-rigid root section is disposed at the first end of the body, and a tab is disposed at the second end of the body. The tab extends radially away from the axis of the rolled product and axially away from the engagement surface of the body. The tab has a greatest radial portion displaced from a plane defined by the engagement surface of the body in a direction opposite to a direction in which the protrusion is extended. The tab has a contour that mirrors a user's thumb.

Further disclosed herein is a dispenser suitable for dispensing a rolled product that defines an axial direction and a radial direction. The dispenser includes, a housing and a pair of holders positioned at the housing for axially supporting the rolled product. Each of the holders has an engagement surface positionable against opposing planar ends of the rolled product, each planar end is defined by a plurality of juxtaposed edges of the rolled product. Each of the holders has a protrusion that extends from the respective engagement surface in a direction toward the other holder. The protrusions are engageable within axial openings in the planar ends of the rolled product, and at least one of the holders has a tab extending radially away from an axis of the rolled product and axially away from the planar end of the rolled product. The tab further has a contour that mirrors a user's thumb, and a greatest radial portion displaced from a plane defined by the engagement surface in a direction opposite to the direction in which the associated protrusion extends. Additionally, the at least one holder that has the tab is configured to permit disengagement of the associated protrusion from within the associated opening in the planar end of the rolled product in response to the tab being moved in a direction that displaces the tab away from the planar end of the rolled product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following descriptions should not be considered limiting in any way. With reference to the accompanying drawings, like elements are numbered alike:

FIG. 1 depicts a perspective view of a sheet product dispenser, with a cover removed, including a roll holder appliance in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 depicts a cross sectional view of an embodiment of the roll holder appliance taken at arrows 2-2 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 depicts a side view of the roll holder appliance of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 depicts a perspective view of the roll holder appliance of FIG. 2; and

FIGS. 5-9 depict front view block diagram schematics of alternative sheet product dispensers having one or more roll holder appliances in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the disclosed apparatus and method are presented herein by way of exemplification and not limitation with reference to the Figures.

Referring to FIG. 1, a sheet product dispenser 10 is shown with an embodiment of a roll holder appliance 13 having two roll holders 14 disposed on one side of two sheet product rolls 18. Each roll holder 14 includes a tab 16 that facilitates loading and unloading of rolls of sheet product from the sheet product dispenser 10. Two rolls 18 of sheet product are shown mounted within a housing 22 of the sheet product dispenser 10. Each roll 18 has two opposing roll ends 24, each end of each roll 18 being defined by a planar surface 28. The planar surfaces 28 are defined by a plurality of juxtaposed edges of sheets of the sheet product that are stacked upon one another in the rolling process. A pair of roll holder appliances 13, each appliance having two roll holders 14, are disposed with one appliance 13 on each end of the rolls 18, such as to positionally and functionally support each of the rolls 18 within the housing 22, as will be described below. While only one roll holder appliance 13 is illustrated in FIG. 1, it will be appreciated that the other roller holder appliance is disposed in a mirror-like fashion on the opposite hidden planar surfaces 28 of rolls 18. While embodiments are described herein with reference to two rolls 18, it will be appreciated that the scope of the invention is not so limited and may be applied to a single-roll dispenser.

Referring now to FIGS. 2-4, a roll holder appliance 15 alternative to roll holder appliance 13 and suitable for a single-roll dispenser is depicted. Each roll holder appliance 15 has a roll holder 14 similar to that of roll holder appliance 13, and each roll holder 14 has a body 36 with, among other things, an engagement surface 40, a protrusion 44 and the tab 16. The protrusion 44 extends from the surface 40 in a direction toward the roll 18 and is positionable within an opening 52 centrally disposed in the planar end surface 28 of the roll 18. The two protrusions 44, from an opposing pair of roll holders 14, position within the openings 52 of the opposing planar surfaces 28 to thereby pivotally hold the roll 18 therebetween. Such holding of the roll 18 allows the roll 18 to rotate relative to the roll holders 14 thereby allowing the sheet product to be unrolled from the roll 18. Although disclosed herein as a raised boss, the protrusions 44 could be in the form of any raised shape, such as a hollow raised lip, a series of raised studs, or raised ribs in the shape of an asterisk, for example. The protrusions 44 need only engage the openings 52 enough to support the rolls 18 while permitting the rolls 18 to rotate. As such, a slidably engaged fit between the protrusions 44 and the openings 52 allow the rolls 18 to rotate while not being permitted to move excessively in a radial direction with respect to the protrusions 44. An additional optional component, such as a hub bearing (not shown), may be positioned between the roll holders 14 and the rolls 18 to facilitate rotation of the rolls 18 relative to the roll holders 14.

Loading of the roll 18 into the sheet product dispenser 10 requires the distance between the pair of opposing protrusions 44 to be momentarily increased while the roll 18 is positioned between the two roll holders 14. The tab 16 provides a convenient handle with which to move at least one of the protrusions 44 further from the other of the protrusions 44 so that a full roll 18 can be loaded therebetween. Once the openings 52 are aligned with the protrusions 44 the protrusions 44 may be allowed to move toward one another by moving the tab 16 (or allowing the tab 16 to move) until each protrusion 44 engages with a respective one of the openings 52. Movement of the protrusions 44 toward one another may be stopped by different methods, for example, when the surfaces 40 come into contact with the opposing planar surfaces 28 of the roll 18, or by a travel-limiting feature (not shown) built into the dispenser 10 that limits travel of the surfaces 40 toward one another. Regardless of the travel-limiting feature, the surfaces 40 are allowed to move close enough together to prevent the roll 18 from disengaging from either of the protrusions 44 when the roll 18 is moved in an axial direction (defined by a central axis of the roll 18), such that one of the planar surfaces 28 abuts one of the engagement surfaces 40. In this manner, the surfaces 40 provide axial stops to the roll 18 through contact with the planar surfaces 28. In the embodiments disclosed herein, the roll holders 14 are configured such that the surfaces 40 are biased toward the planar surfaces 28 and are in contact with the planar surfaces 28 when a roll 18 is positioned therebetween.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the biasing of the surfaces 40 toward the planar surfaces 28 is supplied by spring 56. The spring 56 is in tension between control arms 60 thereby biasing the control arms 60 toward each other, which biases the pair of roll holder appliances 13 and respective opposing roll holders 14 toward each other, thereby squeezing the rolls 18 therebetween.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 2-4, the roll holder appliance 15 has a mounting foot 64 on a distal end 68 of the body 36 opposite an end 72 on which the tab 16 is located. The mounting foot 64 is configured to fixedly attach to a convenient surface of the housing 22 of a dispenser 10. This attachment requires the body 36 of the roll holder 14 to deform or flex in order to spread opposing protrusions 44 far enough apart such that a roll 18 can fit therebetween. As such, a rigid material that is elastically deformable to allow this flexing to occur, such as metal or polymer, is a suitable material from which to make the body 36 of the roll holders 14.

The tabs 16 facilitate spreading of the roll holders 14 to permit loading and unloading of a roll 18. The end 72 of the each tab 16 is positioned radially (relative to the axis of an associated roll 18) outwardly of the associated surface 40. Such positioning provides more leverage for spreading the roll holders 14 than is available at the lesser radial position of the surfaces 40. Additionally, at least a greatest radial portion 76 of the tab 16 on each roll holder 14 is displaced from a plane defined by the engagement surface 40. This displacement is in a direction opposite the direction from the plane of the surface 40 in which the protrusion 44 extends. As such, when the surface 40 is in contact with the planar surface 28, the tab 16 is positioned away from the planar surface 28, thereby forming a gap 80 to permit an operator to place a thumb or finger, for example, between the tab 16 and the planar surface 28. As such, it may be desirable for a dimension of the gap 80 to be in the range of 0.25 to 1.0 inches. The gap 80 between the tab 16 and the planar surface 28 facilitates manipulation of the roll holder 14 thereby simplifying movement of the protrusions 44 during loading and unloading of a roll 18 from the dispenser 10.

The tab 16 is designed to simplify handling thereof by a user. As such, the tab 16 has a contoured portion 84 shaped to mirror a user's thumb. The contoured portion 84 disclosed herein having a concave surface 85 on a side facing the planar surface 28 thereby being receptive of a user's thumb. The concave surface 85 acting to bias the thumb toward a center of the contoured portion 84. The tab 16 further including a planar portion 86 at the greatest radial portion 76. The planar portion 86 being substantially parallel with the surface 40 when the roll holder 14 on which the planar portion 86 is located is holding a roll 18. Such a configuration assures that a portion of the tab 16 that is most easily accessible to an operator, the greatest radial portion 76 for example, has the planar portion 86 oriented so that a finger or thumb making contact therewith does not have a tendency to slide off from the tab 16 due to a ramping or cam effect thereagainst.

The tab 16 may optionally have a textured or knurled surface 88 on a side that faces the planar surface 28 to improve grip between an operator's finger or thumb, for example, and the tab 16. Inclusion of such a textured surface 88 may minimize slippage of a finger or thumb from the tab 16 during manipulation of the roll holder 14 and thereby further facilitate loading and unloading of rolls 18.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the scope of the invention encompasses a roll holder 14 for use with a first roll holder appliance 13 in accordance with the illustration of FIG. 1, and includes a roll holder 14 for use with a second roll holder appliance 15 in accordance with the illustration of FIGS. 2-4. Each roll holder 14 flexes relative to a rigid or semi-rigid root section, which in the first roll holder appliance 13 is a central region where control arm 60 engages, and in the second roll holder appliance 15 is the mounting foot 64. It will also be appreciated that the two appliances 13, 15 are not mutually exclusive since a two-roll sheet product dispenser (as illustrated in FIG. 1) could have a roll holder appliance 13 on one side of the two rolls, and two roll holder appliances 15 on the other side of the two rolls. It will be further appreciated that a sheet product dispenser (single-roll or two-roll) could employ roll holder(s) 14 only on one side of the roll, as long as the flexibility of the roll holder(s) 14 is sufficient to allow replacement of a depleted roll 18.

In view of the foregoing, it will be appreciated that various combinations of roll holder appliances 13, 15 and quantities of roll holders 14 may be employed, which are illustrated in the front view block diagram schematic of FIGS. 5-9, where: FIG. 5 depicts a two-roll 18 dispenser 10 having two roll holder appliances 13, one on each side of rolls 18 (similar to that of FIG. 1); FIG. 6 depicts a two-roll 18 dispenser 10 having one roll holder appliance 13 on one side and two roll holder appliances 15 on the other side, where spring 56 is attached to control arm 60 on one end and to a rigid anchor 90 on housing 22 at the other end; FIG. 7 depicts a two-roll 18 dispenser 10 having one roll holder appliance 13 on one side and fixed roll holder appliances 17 on the other side, where each fixed roll holder appliance 17 has a roll holder 14, and a rigid anchor 92 on housing 10 at each distal end of body 36, thereby forming a substantially non-deformable fixed roll holder appliance 17; FIG. 8 depicts a single-roll 18 dispenser 10′ having two roll holder appliances 15; and, FIG. 9 depicts a single-roll 18 dispenser 10′ having one roll holder appliance 15 on one side and a fixed roll holder appliance 17 on the other side. All of the foregoing combinations and arrangements are considered within the scope of the invention disclosed herein.

While the invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims. Also, in the drawings and the description, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms may have been employed, they are unless otherwise stated used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention therefore not being so limited. Moreover, the use of the terms first, second, etc. do not denote any order or importance, but rather the terms first, second, etc. are used to distinguish one element from another. Furthermore, the use of the terms a, an, etc. do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item. 

1. A holder appliance suitable for axially supporting a rolled product, the rolled product having a planar end surface defined by a plurality of juxtaposed edges of the rolled product and an opening centrally disposed in the planar end surface, the rolled product defining an axial direction and a radial direction, the holder appliance comprising: a holder comprising: a body having first and second ends and an engagement surface disposed therebetween contactable with the planar end surface of the rolled product; and a protrusion extending from the engagement surface of the body toward the rolled product, the protrusion being engageable within the opening in the planar end surface; and a rigid or semi-rigid root section disposed at the first end and a tab disposed at the second end of the body, the tab extending radially away from the axis of the rolled product and axially away from the engagement surface of the body, the tab having a greatest radial portion displaced from a plane defined by the engagement surface of the body in a direction opposite to a direction in which the protrusion is extended, the tab having a contour that mirrors a user's thumb.
 2. The holder appliance of claim 1, wherein the body is rigidly flexible relative to the rigid or semi-rigid root section being rigidly or semi-rigidly disposed to permit disengagement of the protrusion from within the opening in the planar end surface of the rolled product in response to the tab being moved in a direction away from the planar end surface.
 3. The holder appliance of claim 1, wherein the body comprises a polymer.
 4. The holder appliance of claim 1, wherein the body comprises a metal.
 5. The holder appliance of claim 1, wherein the greatest radial portion of the tab is displaced from the plane of the engagement surface an amount sufficient to allow a user's thumb to be positioned between the greatest radial portion and the planar end surface of the rolled product.
 6. The holder appliance of claim 1, wherein the tab further includes a textured surface thereon on a side facing the planar end surface of the rolled product.
 7. The holder appliance of claim 1, wherein the tab further includes a planar portion that is substantially parallel to the plane of the engagement surface when the engagement surface is positioned substantially parallel with the planar end surface of the rolled product.
 8. The holder appliance of claim 7, wherein the planar portion is the greatest radial portion.
 9. The roll holder appliance of claim 8, wherein the planar portion is displaced from the plane of the engagement surface by a dimension equal to or greater than 0.25 inches and equal to or less than 1.0 inches.
 10. The holder appliance of claim 1, wherein the protrusion is a raised boss on the engagement surface.
 11. The holder appliance of claim 1, wherein the rigid or semi-rigid root section comprises a mounting foot.
 12. The holder appliance of claim 1, wherein the holder defines a first holder, and further comprising a second of the holder, wherein the first and second holders are joined at their respective first ends by a control arm, wherein the rigid or semi-rigid root section is defined by a central region of a control arm.
 13. A dispenser suitable for dispensing a rolled product that defines an axial direction and a radial direction, comprising: a housing; a pair of holders positioned at the housing for axially supporting the rolled product, each of the holders having an engagement surface positionable against opposing planar ends of the rolled product, each planar end being defined by a plurality of juxtaposed edges of the rolled product, each of the holders having a protrusion extending from the respective engagement surface in a direction toward the other holder, the protrusions being engageable within axial openings in the planar ends of the rolled product, at least one of the holders having a tab extending radially away from an axis of the rolled product and axially away from the planar end of the rolled product, the tab having a contour that mirrors a user's thumb, the tab having a greatest radial portion displaced from a plane defined by the engagement surface in a direction opposite to the direction in which the associated protrusion extends, the at least one holder having the tab configured to permit disengagement of the associated protrusion from within the associated opening in the planar end of the rolled product in response to the tab being moved in a direction that displaces the tab away from the planar end of the rolled product.
 14. The dispenser of claim 11, wherein the greatest radial portion of the tab is axially displaced from the plane of the engagement surface by a dimension sufficient to accommodate a user's finger or thumb therebetween.
 15. The dispenser of claim 12, wherein the dimension is equal to or greater than 0.25 inches and equal to or less than 1.0 inches.
 16. The dispenser of claim 11, wherein at least one of the pair of holders have an end that is fixedly attached to the housing.
 17. The dispenser of claim 11, wherein at least one of the holders has a tab elastically deformable such that the protrusion of the at least one roll holder is disengageable from the opening in the planar end of the rolled product in response to elastic deformation of the at least one roll holder.
 18. The dispenser of claim 11, wherein a surface of the tab is textured.
 19. The dispenser of claim 11, wherein the tab further includes a planar portion that is substantially parallel with the engagement surface when the pair of holders are holding the rolled product. 